For anyone who is excited about IronPython and it's consequences, you
might find Jim Hugunin's web log to be of particular interest. I didn't
see an announcement for this anywhere so here it is:
http://blogs.msdn.com/hugunin/http://blogs.msdn.com/hugunin/Rss.aspx
Anti-trust conspiracy theories aside, if Microsoft adopts Python as a
part of it's development toolset, the repercussions for Windows RAD and
scripting are massive, not to mention the effects it would have on the
average Python developer's wages and availability of work.
It would also greatly ease the need to advocate Python in places of
employment, as a Microsoft adopted product, it couldn't be wrong(tm).
This is perhaps the first time where I have been glad to see Microsoft
hijack something. Even if IronPython becomes a commercial offering, I'm
still sold.
Other random thoughts: my experiences of the Python community versus,
eg., the perl community make me believe that Pythonistas are generally
more accepting of commercial solutions than their open source weenie
perl counterparts (*duck*). I'm still unsure as to whether or not this
should be considered a Microsoft marketing strategy for making in-roads
into the "open source scripting market".
My apologies for the poor terminology, this really isn't my department.
Just got a feeling. :)
David.